Obesity epidemic weighing down airplanes, pushing up fuel co

[zzyzzx]

http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm1186_20041104.htm

Obesity epidemic weighing down airplanes, pushing up fuel costs

Thursday, November 4, 2004

ATLANTA - Heavy suitcases aren't the only things weighing down airplanes and requiring them to burn more fuel, pushing up the cost of flights. A new government study reveals that airlines increasingly have to worry more about the weight of their passengers.

America's growing waistlines are hurting the bottom lines of airline companies as the extra pounds on passengers are causing a drag on planes. Heavier fliers have created heftier fuel costs, according to the government study.

Through the 1990s, the average weight of Americans increased by 10 pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The extra weight caused airlines to spend $275 million to burn 350 million more gallons of fuel in 2000 just to carry the additional weight of Americans, the federal agency estimated in a recent issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

"The obesity epidemic has unexpected consequences beyond direct health effects," said Dr. Deron Burton of the CDC. "Our goal was to highlight one area that had not been looked at before."

The extra fuel burned also had an environmental impact, as an estimated 3.8 million extra tons of carbon dioxide were released into the air, according to the study.

The agency said its calculations are rough estimates, issued to highlight previously undocumented consequences of the ongoing obesity epidemic.

The estimates were calculated by determining how much fuel the 10 extra pounds of weight per passenger represented in Department of Transportation airline statistics, Burton said.

Obesity is a life-or-death struggle in the United States, the underlying cause of 400,000 deaths in 2000, a 33 percent jump from 1990. If current trends persist, it will become the nation's No. 1 cause of preventable death, the CDC said earlier this year.

More than half - 56 percent - of U.S. adults were overweight or obese in the early 1990s, according to a CDC survey. That rose to 65 percent in a similar survey done from 1999 to 2002.

Although the Air Transport Association of America has not yet validated the CDC data, spokesman Jack Evans said the health agency's appraisal "does not sound out of the realm of reality."

With most airlines reporting losses blamed partly on record-high fuel costs, everything on an airplane is now a weighty issue. Airlines are doing everything they can to lighten the load on all aircraft, from wide-body jets to turboprops.

Bulky magazines have gone out the door. Metal forks and spoons have been replaced with plastic. Large carry-ons are being scrutinized and even heavy materials that used to make up airplane seats are being replaced with plastic and other lightweight materials.

"We're dealing in a world of small numbers - even though it has a very incremental impact" to reduce a 60- to 120-ton aircraft's weight by bumping off a few magazines, Evans said. "When you consider airlines are flying millions of miles, it adds up over time."

Although passenger bulk has been an issue in the past - Dallas-based Southwest Airlines requires large people to buy a second seat for passenger safety and comfort - Evans says it's not likely airlines will scrutinize how much passengers weigh in the future. Instead, they are trying to do a better job of estimating passenger weight in figuring out how much fuel they need for a flight.

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines now calculates the weight of children on flights, instead of using adult-weight formulas for all passengers, Evans said.

"Just like we don't control the costs of our fuel, we don't control the weights of our passengers," he said. "Passengers gain weight, but airlines are the ones that go on a diet. It's part of the conundrum we face right now."

[Capmaster]

They should lighten some of the fat multimillion dollar bonuses for the CEOs and CFOs and bloated executive salaries and perks, and apply that towards fuel instead of using flimsier material in the seats But ....we know that'll never happen :P

[Goober57]

It reminds me of the photo of the fat-a** that I posted earlier!!!

Sadly the obesity problem is VERY real. During the past year people have really ballooned in my neighborhood. They think it's normal because everybody else looks exactly like them.

Somewhere I read that the chubbers can buy a tool to help themselves put on their socks, since they can't bend down that far.

Once somebody gets fat it's extremely difficult to get back into shape, especially today.

Check out the babe...........

http://frogstar.com/pics/large/images/fat-ass-l.jpg


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[bazooka]

I believe that this is a stretch.

They do not have to offer a full course meal with every flight.

Southwest Airlines offers peanuts and a drink and is still doing well.

To blame it on overweight passengers is pure bullshit.

[handyguy]

I wish they would make seats wider, if people are going to be bigger. Getting a seat in the middle of two large people is confining. I always ask for a window seat

[Capmaster]

I can understand the extra charge for the morbidly obese in coach. More than once I've sat in the middle with an enormous, ponderous mountain of a person next to me ...requiring the flight attendant demonstrator seat belt as an extension to the existing one. Rolls of fat waddles hanging over the armrest into my space about 8 or 10 inches, forcing me to scrunch up to the other side for the whole flight to keep from touching it Not fun for a 2 hour flight

Yes, people that can't fit into one seat ought to pay for two seats. It's not fair that the other passengers should suffer because of their problem :P

But charging everyone more because the average weight is higher ....ummm ...no. That's bullshit.

[CoasterCreator]

I just hope that they just dont smell like cabbage

although it could be worse

[CoasterCreator]

well overweight is not the only problem with airlines

[FulciLives]

@ CoasterCreator

LOL

That's some funny shit (if true) !!!



- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[holistic]

Article is fake. Urban internet legend strikes again.
- Airline is no longer in business
- No date on clipping

[ViRaL1]

It reminds me of the photo of the fat-a** that I posted earlier!!!

Sadly the obesity problem is VERY real. During the past year people have really ballooned in my neighborhood. They think it's normal because everybody else looks exactly like them.

Somewhere I read that the chubbers can buy a tool to help themselves put on their socks, since they can't bend down that far.

Once somebody gets fat it's extremely difficult to get back into shape, especially today.

Check out the babe...........

http://frogstar.com/pics/large/images/fat-ass-l.jpg

Is she hiding somewhere in that marshmallow?

Also, if you think people around you are big now, wait til winter (man, I hope you're in my hemisphere or this would sound really dumb )

[Doramius]

I think anyone who wieghs more than 300lbs. should be charged double for their seat. I had to move because one guy did take up 2 seats. The guy's biggest complaint was that he couldn't walk through the aisle very well and that the armrest dug into his back. What do you expect when each butt cheek fills up an entire seat. The guy was already upset because he had requested an emergency exit, but the airline refused because they deemed him incapable to perform the emergency task. The guy was annoying through the whole flight. He asked each stewardess for an extra snack, all refusing.